Star Wars-Phantom Squad
by Bandanacat
Summary: Witness the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance's special forces! A force-sensitive pilot, two Jedi, a mysterious rebel cell, and... an angry Quarren. When a mission to join a rebel cell with valuable resources with the Rebel Alliance goes wrong, the crew must come together and fight for freedom against the relentless Empire!
1. Character List

_Hi! So this is my Star Wars story! Some of you might notice that the first few parts of the story are from my cancelled Phantom Squad story. Don't worry, once you get to chapter two, it should be brand new stuff for you. And hopefully, I'll have this story going longer than one chapter (what happened with the earlier Phantom Squad story. This character list will probably be updated as the story goes on, and later chapters might be shorter, since the first parts of the story were written a while ago and they have a higher word count. Enjoy!_

THIS STORY TAKES PLACE IN...

0 A.B.Y. (After the Battle of Yavin, A New Hope)

CHARACTER LIST

Grelon Stah (Pronounced Grehl-lahn St-ah)-Male Rodian. Main character. Is eager and brave. Flies an X-wing and fights for the Rebel Alliance. Older brother Uquano was a Jedi Knight. Is Force-sensitive himself.

Teko (Pronounced Tee-koh)-Female Talz. Fights for the rebels. Is dependable and dutiful.

Vastroni Aak (Pronounced Vah-stroh-nee Ack)-Male Gran. Is somewhat skinny for his kind. Loves food. Flies an X-wing for the rebels. Is carefree and a good pilot.

Sauloch Stralish (Pronounced Sahl-ock Stray-lish)-Female Mon Calamari. Is an officer onboard a rebel ship. Pragmatic.

Cerris-(Pronounced Ser-iss)-Male Quarren. Fights mostly on the ground, dislikes flying. Is effective on the battlefield, but easily angered.

Strenis Cron (Pronounced Streh-niss Krohn)-Male Gand. Is force sensitive. An older being. Is calm.


	2. Opening Crawl

STAR WARS: PHANTOM SQUAD:

A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY…

It is a time of great fear, by the new self-appointed leader of the GALACTIC EMPIRE, EMPEROR PALPATINE'S decree of ORDER 66, the JEDI have been branded traitors, and hunted down mercilessly.

To lure them out of hiding, IMPERIAL AGENTS have been dispatched throughout the GALAXY to detain the families and allies of the JEDI.

One notable survivor of ORDER 66, UQUANO STAH, is a main target for the ruthless EMPIRE, and the IMPERIALS will stop at nothing to finally arrest the insurgent.

To make a ransom for STAH'S life, one agent is sent to the MID-RIM planet of ABON, to capture the family of STAH…


	3. Prologue

STAH FARM, NEAR VERINO, ABON, 18 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin)

Benak sat in the Nerf-laced chair. He had been thinking back to the days when his son Uquano had been taken. Uquano was only a young boy when the Jedi had asked for him to add his Force skills to their ranks. Benak grudgingly let the Jedi take in his son, but was glad his two younger children were still at home with him.

The pair of mentioned children, Grelon and Kerin, were as lively and joyful as their older brother had been. The twins exhibited signs of Force-sensitivity, which worried Benak greatly. The Force wasn't something the father opposed, but wasn't ready to show them. If Benak encouraged the activity, they would be snatched up by the Guardians of the Whills or the Jedi again, or some other Force related group. Benak was too attached to his children to let them into harm's way, and ordered them to not use the force. Grelon and Kerin had little idea about what it was they were using, but obediently followed the rules.

As the children had grown up, the Clone Wars had broken out, clones and droids weren't the only ones at the forefront, the Jedi, including Uquano, were there too! Timid by nature, and not willing to bear the sad news of the casualties, Benak moved his family further away from the bustling town of Verino to a quiet homestead where they could continue life devoid of any saddening news from the front. The only thing that gave the two children context of the age they lived in were the periodic hologram messages their elder sibling, Uquano sent on occasion. The twins were always overjoyed to hear some news of their brother's escapades and adventures. The messages even included appearances from Uquano's fellow Jedi, usually a Trandoshan by the name of Kadath, a Gand, and sometimes an Ithorian named Onra. Benak had little problem with these messages, as Uquano rarely gave any grim and gritty recollections of the war, merely painting it as an amazing odyssey through the galaxy than the bloody conflict it was to most of the men on the front lines.

Now, the holo-messages from Uquano had all but disappeared, which confused his family back home. They had lived in peace, ignorant of the reason Uquano was silent. The reason behind the silence, the decree of Order 66, a devious scheme plotted by the Chancellor (and secret Sith lord) of the Galactic Republic, Chancellor Palpatine. It was such a small contingency, so tiny, hidden in a forest of military protocol, but so monumental in its impact. The order gave the clones the order that the Jedi were secret traitors of the Republic, and commanded them to eliminate their Jedi leaders. In the span of a day, hundreds of thousands of Jedi were slain by the captains and commanders and grunts they had forged strong bonds with, gaining trust and comradery with. In the time of a few seconds, all the alliances, all the memories, all the humanity of their bonds, died with the masters, knights, and Padawans. Feelings and companionship fell way to heartless scheming and protocol enacted by a cruelly brilliant mastermind.

Uquano had been caught in the massacre, he defended himself from the now murderous clones as he felt his brothers and sisters be picked off one by one in the Jedi temple. The Rodian Jedi was never heard from again, but no clone knows of firing a fatal shot to the Jedi. It was presumed he was dead, but no-one never found a body. While the Jedi were quickly cut down from hundreds of thousands to a few hundred, there were still a few survivors of Order 66 to be caught, it is assumed Uquano died in the attacks.

Benak, terribly ignorant of the events, was sitting around and remembering days gone by, when sound of a ship landing emitted near the house. Unsettled by the late arrival of the visitor, Benak stood to answer the door. The approaching steps of the mysterious caller put Benak further on edge. Finally, with a sigh, the door was opened, revealing the stiff, gaunt face of an officer of some sort. Without waiting for an introduction from Benak, the man immediately ordered his men to sweep the abode, "Greetings, I am Agent Jollot I've been sent here to find the missing Jedi and traitor Uquano Stah and to arrest the immediate family and friends of said person, you are Stah's father are you not?"

"What? Who are you?"

"An Imperial agent sent by the Emperor."

"An Empire? What about the Republic?"

"Haven't you heard? The Republic and the Jedi are history, the Empire now rules the galaxy."

Shaken badly, realizing that this probably meant Uquano had met a terrible fate, Benak moved to attack out of pure spite. Jollot's men subdued him quickly. Soon, Grelon came down to see what was happening, followed by Narana and Kerin, "What's going on dad?" Benak, being too shocked to come up with any other action simply yelled, "Run!" Narana took Grelon's hand and bolted through the ancient hovel and into the misty Abonian evening.

The three Rodians sprinted through the tranquil jungle, arousing all the sleeping animals as they went. One nasty creature of the slumbering wildlife was angered by the passing people and lashed out at a pursuing stormtrooper.

"Who's chasing us?" A curious Grelon asked.

"I don't know. Something about an empire."

"Empire?"

The young boy was baffled by the turn of events, not sure if this was some game, or a serious pursuit, Grelon ran on intently, waiting for an answer to the chase.

Passing by a steep, rocky cliff, Grelon lost his footing and fell. His mother called out for him, "Grelon where are you?!" Before he could respond, the sound of blasters above him on the path frightened the fallen youth from saying anything.

The distance he had fallen would've taken the fight out of a hardened Tognath, but by a miracle, Grelon had landed still breathing. Hiding in a bush to rest shortly, realizing that this was a dead serious chase from someone who wanted to use him and his family for sinister ends, Grelon's pupiless eyes dripped a few sorrowful tears.

Not wanting to stay in one place too long, the child raised himself up to continue his escape. To his dismay, Grelon spied a deathly white figure of a stormtrooper. He seemed to be scanning the trees for the little Rodian. Hoping to sneak around the man, Grelon plotted a course in his mind through a small trail of bushes and foliage. Sneaking through the underbrush, the trooper took no notice of the passing fugitive. The way was almost clear, when a fragile twig snapped under Grelon's foot. The guard swung around to see what caused the noise. Spying with a trained eye, he found the Rodian getting up to run to safety. Another beast was awoken in the noise of blasters coming from the guard, and it took out yet another threat.

All that night Grelon bolted through the endless jungle, desperate and bitter. He thought he would never get out of the nightmarish place until he finally came upon a speeder road, for the citizens of Abon to make trips to the neighboring cities. Grelon trudged for hours on the road, not caring where he went, as long as he got away from this, empire his mom had said. He remembered the Force, an 'energy field' as Uquano often called it in his many holo-messages, that 'binds the universe together and lets you do amazing feats.'

Uquano.

The older brother to Grelon, Grelon had never seen him in person, only hearing his voice on a hologram, the closest he'd ever been to this mysterious member of his kin. Grelon wanted so badly to run to his side for protection, but he had no idea where Uquano could be in the galaxy, or if he was even alive. The Empire might've killed him for all the young boy knew. Still, there was always a possibility he was out there, Grelon thought.

Soon, in the waking dawn, a huge metropolis opened before the Rodian's eyes, Verino. The famous spaceport had been the birthplace of Jurijus, and had spawned a myriad Jurijus farms for the curious to visit. This meant Grelon had plenty of ships coming and leaving with spice, smuggled goods, or tourists.

While immediately sneaking on a ship bound off-world would've been the best plan, Grelon was simply too fatigued to carry on. He snuck into an abandoned crate in an alley to rest. Not long after he awoke, just minutes later, the little Grelon woke to the sight of a rough-looking Gran, and a towering Talz staring at him, though they semed to be the same age as Grelon was, even younger perhaps. Taken aback, a startled cry came from Grelon's lips. "Woah! Hey! Hey! Settle down!" The Gran quieted the frightened child, "I'm Vastroni and she's Teko."

The Talz waved in concurrence. "Who're you?" Teko asked.

"Grelon, Grelon Stah."

Still unsure of the two-newcomer's purpose for seeing him, Grelon inquired, "W-what do you want?"

"Heard about your escape, some lady near there and her daughter left here just hours ago. Looks like you can get lucky too and get off this rock with us!"

Grelon wasn't sure whether to trust them or not, but reasoned that there wasn't much he could do at the moment anyway, "You gotta ship?"

Vastroni replied, "Well, it's not mine exactly. It's my father's, we've been going through planets like these, taking in fugitives and refugees who hate the Empire."

Hearing about the opposition to the still mysterious Empire, Grelon was even better convinced that the two could be trusted, and agreed to go with them.

"Great! We better go now, there's a patrol nearby…" Teko whispered.

As she said the words, a group of troopers appeared, holding a hologram of Grelon's likeness. The three children ran through the alley as one stormtrooper took notice of the suspicious bystanders, "Hey, where're you going?" The soldier quickly signaled for the others to follow, and they readied their blasters as they took chase. Vastroni took out a blaster from his belt and shot off a few rounds to cut down their pursuers' numbers. Despite the great number of lasers fired, only one fell to the fire. "Blast it! I'm not much of a marksman. Maybe you're better with it!" Vastroni tossed the blaster over to Grelon's hands. Though he hadn't used a blaster before, the boy was skillful and took out three opponents. After weaving their way through the roads and alleys of Verino, the trio stopped to catch their breath, Vastroni made a short report of their situation, "Looks like we're clear."

Unfortunately, those words weren't true, more troops showed up from the other alleys connecting to the courtyard the three rebels were in. The stormtroopers set their weapons to stun, as the leader warned, "Stop right there!" Thinking quickly, Grelon miraculously did a somersault into a trooper as the others shot at the fugitive. Vastroni and Teko ducked as they watched their new friend take out the enemy with surprising ferocity (fueled by anger at the Imperials for taking away his family). Two soldiers went down shooting each other in a blunder, while Grelon placed a kick into another while trying to dodge a laser. Teko pushed the momentum further by picking up a blaster from one of the fallen troopers and firing on the remaining ones. Vastroni guided them through the alley again "Over here! The ship's not much farther!" After blasting and running their course through Verino, the three finally reached a low-ceilinged hangar with a spaceship idling inside the rust-filled building. Another Gran, most likely Vastroni's father Grelon suspected, appeared firing at the Imperial pursuers. "C'mon! Hurry!" he yelled as the refugees clambered onboard. The ship, the Kinyen Racer to be exact, lifted off with wind blowing furiously as a squad of stormtroopers helplessly watched the rebels escape.

At last, Grelon was finally safe.

He looked around at his new allies' vessel. It felt like home, and Grelon desperately wanted that after what had happened. The captain introduced himself, "I'm Ask Aak, captain of the Kinyen Racer. Welcome to our band."

Overwhelmed by the shattering events that had so quickly happened, Grelon could barely utter a response. But he accepted his new position in the group of rebels, and was ready for whatever lie ahead. Ask prepared the ship for its rampant journey through hyperspace, as the rebels expectantly watched the dotted stars morph into gleaming lines.


	4. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

OUTSIDE OF EI'ONIA, KAOST 0 BBY

Serenity surrounds the underbrush of the fields outside Ei'onia, the grasslands of the alien landscape lie silent, as they have for years.

But it won't last forever.

A shuttle cuts through the dark blue sky, accompanied by a pair of TIE Fighters and a duo of TIE Bombers. While the scream of the menacing TIEs breaks the relative quietness of the plains, the shuttle flies silently, as if as intent on its goal as it's master.

A mining convoy appears, the long line of caravanning hover-wagons stops for the approaching ships. The ship and its escort come and land just a few Klicks short of the lead wagon. With a hiss of steam, the door of the shuttle opens, a man disembarks with a quartet of stormtroopers for his aid. The leader of the miners steps forward to greet the man. The man from the ship speaks, "Arred."

"Draken!" The miner replies politely, "What brings you this far out from Ei'onia?

"You've probably heard the reports of a mining group supplying the Rebels with fuel and smuggled goods and such."

"Wow, there's nearly a hundred convoys just milling around Ei'onia alone! What do you have on them?"

"Well, they've been bypassing our checks at the spaceports somehow, and taking the goods to the Ring of Kafrene. The troops over there found a lead that traces back to here."

Arred responds in a neighborly, encouraging tone, "Well I wish you the best of luck!"

Draken stands motionless, confusing Arred. For a few seconds the two men stand, Arred hoping his fears aren't realized. The old miner breaks the silence at last, "Your men aren't making their usual check."

Draken nods darkly.

"The bombers."

"Yes."

The officer strides away smugly to his shuttle, "It's a shame Arred, I liked you, I really did. It's terrible our friendship had to end this way."

Arred lifts the pretense of friendliness, and draws a blaster, "Yeah, terrible."

Undeterred, and still walking, Draken gestures with his finger and the accompanying troopers fire at Arred, preventing his devious attack. As Draken reenters the ship he orders the dutiful pilots to give word to the bombers to drop their deadly payload. Even as the shuttle lifts of from the now dangerous ground, the TIEs begin their bombing on the convoy as miners and soldiers flee for cover, they find none. The plan carried out, the ships fly in formation back to Ei'onia.

TWO WEEKS LATER…

YAVIN IV, REBEL BASE

Footsteps approach hurriedly, Grelon and Knescen wait patiently. A stout Utai walks in quickly, and brings a holo-message from Mon Mothma, "Here's your orders."

"Thanks!" Grelon replied politely.

The two pilots finish their wait and hurry to the _Dathomir_ , the ship for their mission. The friends make small talk as they go, Grelon and Knescen had met a few years back, and were great comerades. They had been great allies in combat, and were a good part of the squadron they flew in. One would get a handle on the situation, and send the other through a frenzied series of blasts, covering for each other. They were inseparable, always hopeful and ready for what lay ahead.

The two continue through the aged temple's corridors out to the landing pad, lying there is a small cruiser for them to use. TheDathomirlies ready to launch. As Grelon and his comrade board, the soldiers onboard rise to greet them.

Knescen announces their mission, "Listen up, I'm only saying this once. Two weeks ago, a friendly mining convoy on Kaost that's been supplying us for a while got bombed by the Imps. If they found the boys in the field, they'll go after the guys in charge next."

A Talz, Teko, speaks up, "But they left no survivors, how can they track the leaders?"

Another rebel inquires curiously, "Kaost? That's in the mid-rim, no one goes there, do we have anything on this cell?"

A deckhand, Fruen, who was also in on the briefing, responds to both, "The lead that led the Imps to find the convoy also has ties to the cell leaders. As for what we know about the group, they're actually part of a slightly bigger collective operating mostly in the Mid-rim and a little in the Colonies, they have considerable resources from what we've gathered, and could the Alliance a big boost in supplies and men, but they haven't heard of us yet."

"Just like the other cells. Well, we just tell 'em we're out there and make them an offer to join us, and we join them with the rest of the Alliance, right?"

Fruen spoke again, "That's the plan, who knows if it'll actually work, considering most plans get compromised."

The blast doors close as the soldiers rest again, and polish up their cobbled-together blasters. Some of the crew head up to the bridge for departure procedure. Fruen heated up the idling engines as another pilot spoke on a microphone: "This is the _Dathomir_ , pulling away, need allowance to leave, over." A voice coming from the interior of the base responded, giving them permission to embark. Soon the rebels were out of Yavin airspace and launched into the annals of hyperspace.

Grelon handed the holo-message to a crew member who slip the disc into a battered but functional holo-projector. The ghostly blue head of Mon Mothma appears to give instructions to the ready troops. She says that Kaost is the best place to search first, since it's reportedly where the secretive group is headed from. The mission should be simple, they arrive on Kaost, find a member of the collective, get to a leader or influential part of the splinter group, convince them to join up with the Rebel Alliance, and return to report their success or failure. The defenses on and above the planet are apparently scarce, with the biggest threat being the TIEs that patrol the skies, and are routinely sent into orbit to guard and protect the planet from pirates or rebels.

On route to Kaost, Teko entered the bridge, gave a greeting to Grelon, and walked over to the stiff, calculating figure of Captain Fruen, "Captain, if the cell is so critical, why haven't we made contact with them yet?"

"Not sure, the suppliers on Kaost could be just now becoming aware of us, they might not be allowed to join us for some reason and this end of the group's breaking silence against the head's will, who knows?"

Teko put a clawed finger to her chin and pondered for a while, sitting in a free chair as the ship continued on its way. She turns to Grelon, "You think they're part of some splinter we already know about?"

"Who knows? It's probably a new group we haven't heard of much yet."

"Eh, I'd bet Saw Gerrera would be in with them."

"He's hiding out on Jedha! Why would he be over where we're going? Poor guy could barely survive off the moon for a minute."

The friends had to leave the conversation after Fruen asked them to quiet down. Teko goes back to the lower level, leaving Grelon alone to think on the mission alone.

A few hours later, the rebels emerge from hyperspace, Grelon and the crew scan the planet for signs of any patrols or big threats. They focus mainly on the atmosphere of Kaost, looking for any approaching TIEs.

That's when the star destroyer came into view.

The crew is alarmed by the appearance, the destroyer wasn't supposed to be there according to the mission feed. Before Fruen or his men could respond, a voice came up on the intercom, "Cruiser detected, this is the crew of the _Grievous_ , identify yourself within a minute or we will fire on you."

Fruen, for all his involvement in collecting information on the mission feed, seemed just as surprised, though the reaction seemed strangely stiff to Grelon. Without looking for advice from the others, Fruen quickly snatched the mic from a co-pilot and blurted out a hasty reply, "Uh… Yes! This is the, uh, _Nuna's Feast,_ asking for permission to proceed, over."

The voice came back to the rebels' ears "We're checking the records for confirmation…"

The tension built, Grelon put his hands on the escape pod primer, ready to push at any moment. Everyone tensed up, waiting worriedly for an answer…

The Destroyer's guns aimed at the Rebel spacecraft.

Not waiting for an answer, Grelon pounded the button and ran off to an elevator and shouted back, "Get to the pods!" Knescen, the other pilot on the bridge barked, "Pilots! With me now!"

The Rodian ran out of the elevator as the first blast rocked some onboard crates loose, following a quartet of other pilots. He and the others clambered in their motley assortment of weathered X and Y wings. The five took off to face the enemy forces, hoping they could buy the crew time to evacuate.

THE BRIDGE OF THE _GRIEVOUS_

An officer calls for the captain, "Sir! Five X-wings just launched from the cruiser!"

The leader of the Destroyer responded swiftly, "Launch the TIEs, keep the Turbolasers trained on their capital ship!"

Another report comes in, saying that the engines of the Rebel cruiser had been disabled. The Captain gives a command purely for the entertainment of him and his men, "Have some men board the ship, I've always wanted to see more of this kind of ship-to-ship combat."

Black Squadron, in orbit over Kaost-

The focus in an attack from a destroyer was usually the tractor beams and turbolasers, but the TIEs were too close on the pilots' tails to give them enough time to focus on the cruiser.

Grelon tried to make sure all were accounted for so they could coordinate their attacks instead of random maneuvers everywhere confusing them. He and Vastroni got a voice feed from each other, Black four, leader and five came on too, though four was quickly dispatched after his report.

The dogfighting continued for what seemed to the pilots forever, but by the time anyone checked, half the TIEs were gone. Five more TIEs came to back up the remaining fighters, much to Black Squadron's chagrin. It was obvious the squad couldn't win, Knescen (Black Leader) announced a final order to the rest before he went down, "Get to the surface! We can't beat them, get a signal to the Alliance for help!" A laser blew an engine as he ended his words, he said his last words, "Complete the mission!" Then a second blow turned him and his vessel into a fiery wreck.

Vastroni shouted "You heard him! Dive!" All the ships followed in agreement to Kaost's surface. Black five was shot and was destroyed in a flash of explosions, and the remaining two were crippled when their Astromechs were blown. Black three's top left wing was clipped off at the beginning of the wing, sending the pilot into a spiral towards the all-too-firm ground. Grelon kept falling and falling, doing anything he could to soften the crash, millions of thoughts pulsed through his mind, the crashing of fears in his mind were as terrible as the physical one coming. Though expecting the collision to hurt, the landing was so sudden, Grelon blacked out on contact, he hoped it wasn't the end of the so far failed mission. But he wouldn't be able to find out yet as his strained eyes closed…

THE _DATHOMIR_ , ABOVE KAOST

Cerris felt a hard rumble, that gave the Quarren all he needed to know. He quickly gathered his supplies and made for the escape pods. Another blast knocked him off his feet, a short grumble and another swift snatch later and he was on his way again. He was easily riled up, and the continued hits on the ship made him wobble violently in places, adding to his anger. A Gand ran up behind him and went with Cerris to the pods, "Mind if I follow you?"

Cerris talked back sarcastically "To our doom? Be my guest!" The two ran to an intersection in the interior corridors, when Fruen, the captain, scurried safety. "What're you doing?" The two other Rebels asked. "You think I'm going down with the ship?"

"Well you're the captain." Cerris quipped.

"Knescen is dead, if we're going to regroup on the surface, we need leadership! I'm that leadership!"

Before Cerris could argue further, a giant blast blew open a fried section of hull nearby! The Gand, Strenis, pushed his warring allies into the pod without a thought, and jumped in himself. His insectoid hand pounded the launch button, sending them careening to Kaost's surface. "With any luck, most of us will land close by each other." Fruen predicted. As he finished, a pod nearby burst into flames from the Imperial guns. Cerris grumbled loudly, "I'm more concerned with landing anywhere."

"The Force will decide." Strenis calmly stated. The other two were stunned by their unusually serene passenger, but soon put their minds back to maneuvering away from the Star Destroyer's lasers.

ESCAPE POD BAY, THE _DATHOMIR_

Sauloch burst into the room, yelling, "The hull's been breached! Close off the rupture, or we'll get sucked out!"

Someone pulled a switch, closing the nearby hole in the ship, keeping the danger of the ship's destruction away, if only for a while. From an adjoining hallway, Spacetroopers stomp through the failing ship, shooting away all the desperate rebels. Sauloch grabs a blaster, and shouts "Get in!" to the others. She took out three troopers before the rest pushed into the room, blasting one more, Sauloch made a final resort, she knew she couldn't keep all the Imperials out. The switch is pulled again, sending the Spacetroopers flying out to the void. The Mon Calamari quickly closed the seal once more. Slumping to the floor, she regains her breath after the skirmish.

Soon after resting for a minute, Sauloch heard the approaching steps of the enemy troops. She played dead, hoping it would buy her some more time before the troopers came again. She grabbed the blaster and snuck out into the dying ship's halls.

Sauloch continued through the ship, looking for an escape of any kind, save death or imprisonment. She found a group of rebels, trying to take a smaller junker in the spacious hangar. They sprint for the safety of the ship, but a squad of Spacetroopers follows behind them. The onlooking Sauloch is powerless to stop the goons from behind a pile of crates and hangar equipment, but she remembers"My blaster!"in her mind. A finned hand rattles off some shots from the trigger, striking down two adversaries. The other troops take little notice as they chase the bigger prize. One running rebel falls to the lasers of a pursuing trooper, while the others scramble for the junker. The Imperials take their attention to the exposed engine of the tiny escape ship. One trooper takes out his rocket launcher and fires, the shot hits dead center of the uncovered inner workings. The rebels inside are gone in a furious explosion!

After the incident, a Spacetrooper reported to what appeared to be the squad leader, "There's no survivors. But there's one more holdout near the bridge, we should-." A rough rumble from the weakening Dathomir toppled some boxes and set the troopers, and Sauloch off their feet. The Mon Cal let out a pained grunt once the shaking subsided, giving away her cover. An imperial heard the noise she had made, "Hey boys, there's another one still in here, let's fish her out." Sauloch tensed up, she knew they were coming for her. She gripped the blaster again, repeating a desperately hopeful sentence in her brain to ease the adrenaline that was pounding like a herd of Shaaks over a long dead carcass.

Finally, Sauloch heaved the gun over out to where the troopers were presumably approaching from. She expected a hail of blaster fire to come, but nothing came. Losing the tension for a blissful instant, Sauloch sees the empty space where the enemy should have been.

The butt of a rifle strikes hard against the rebel's tired head.

"Got 'er!" the assailant crows over Sauloch. Another trooper looks closer at their prize, "Wait a second, she's got a high ranking here, see the symbol on her coat? Must be an officer. She could have important info we could use."

"Sure! Inform Captain Jerrul we have a prisoner."


	5. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

GRENTIIJ CLIFFS, KAOST

Spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning…

Grelon awakens with the landscape in a dizzying whirl, the crash had hit quite hard. "Augh, my head..." he says as he hauls himself and his supplies that survived the crash. The dazed pilot scans his surroundings, a beautiful but empty set of plains and hills stretches on in all directions. All seems hopeless, but Grelon doesn't give in to despair. The Rodian leaves his smoking X-wing with his supplies and blaster, and heads for the mountains, deciding they're the best place to find a settlement.

He continues for hours, but nothing comes up, just distant mountains. Not wanting to give up his journey for the possible shelter he might find ahead, the Rodian continues, trying to stay optimistic.

After another hour, the sweltering heat and humidity had worn down the tired pilot. Grelon continues, though the stifling warmth keeps dragging down his hope. Suddenly, a speeder approaches the suffering pilot. The vehicle stops just short of Grelon's feet, though he would've been shocked at the close call, he's too tired to care. The lone driver calls for him to get in, "Need a ride?"

Grelon considers the stranger's possibility of capturing him for the Empire. But, having no better alternative, he decides to go in the speeder, "Yeah." The Rodian hops in the speeder, and speeds away across the plain grasslands.

ESCAPE POD CRASH SITE, KAOST

A pod lays in a small crater out in the plains of Kaost, Strenis' foot kicks the sturdy door off. He and the other two survivors climb out into the humid climate. "Well, what do you think we do now, captain?" Cerris asks, half sarcastic, half sincerely. "I see smoke past that hill over there, it'd be best to see if it's a settlement, or another pod. We'll have strength in numbers." Strenis agreed, "We should see if there was anyone else as fortunate as us that made it here." Soon, the three rebels had gathered rations and tools from their pod and patiently trekked to the other crash site.

By the time they got there, they found that the sole passenger had gotten out and was gathering whatever rations and supplies she could obtain. It looked like Teko, Grelon's Talz friend. As the three approached, Teko looks over her shoulder at them, "Hello there!"

"Lovely weather we have, huh?" Cerris says sarcastically.

"Yeah. We better head for the mountains. That place should have a settlement of some sort."

"We'd better get moving." Fruen says.

THE STRANGER'S SPEEDER, EI'ONIA GRASSLANDS

The grey, cloudy sky of Kaost is filled with heat as an old, battered landspeeder flies near the ground. It's pretty awkward riding with a total stranger that could point a blaster at you at any time, but Grelon has no better option at the moment. He turned to the hooded, masked driver, "Sooooo... Where're we going?"

"To the rebel cell." the stranger said in a cloaked, slightly gravelly voice, "You're just a pilot, probably not a high ranking one. If I was with the Empire, I'd have killed you or just left you there."

"Oh. Uh, thanks?"

Grelon is a little frustrated by his mysterious 'ally's' remarks, but he's glad he has a fellow rebel with him.

The speeder continues over a hill, getting close to the mountains, were some settlements can be seen. It seems that the mission can be salvaged, until an Imperial patrol is spotted. The stranger looks at his/her wrist, and puts it to his/her mask, and speaks, "80. 57. 43." The arm of the stranger looks reptilian.

"What's that?" Grelon whispers as they come closer to the patrol.

"Not now. Cover your alliance symbol."

Grelon takes a small tarp on the speeder and covers the rebel insignia on his flightsuit.

They meet the patrol, ten troopers, with a small transport, and two speeder bikes. A trooper with a pauldron, probably the leader, asks the two travelers, "Halt. What's your business?"

"We're just heading to Ei'onia." the masked alien answers, "We've got stuff to sell."

"You sure you're not with the cell we caught two weeks ago?"

"Yes."

"Then why're you wearing a amask, and your buddy here's putting a rag over his arm?"

"Uh..."

A Stormtrooper reaches for his blaster.

"Ah, forget it..."

The stranger pulls out a blaster and fires on the now armed trooper, the shots hit. Before the scout troopers can escape on the speeders, the hooded rebel shoots remarkably accurately at their engines. With the troop somewhat immobilized, the pilot inside the troop transport aims the guns at the rebel speeder! The stranger blasts two more troopers, but one managed to hit the assailant's blaster. Though apparently unarmed, the masked alien leaps out of the drivers seat and ignites a lightsaber! Grelon looks in wonder at the now rare weapon between shots he fires on the troopers as well. The transport fries the old landspeeder, putting the two rebel's ride out of commission. It looks like Grelon and the mysterious helper will win, even with their speeder destroyed, until one Stormtrooper grabs a shock-stick and zaps the two troublesome rebels.

While the shock was disarming for them, Grelon and the masked ally are still conscious as they're handcuffed.

While they are forced into the transport, one trooper says to the masked alien, "You don't need this."

He pulls back the hood, and removes the mask, revealing the strange rebel's identity. She's a Trandoshan, female, and Grelon can't help but feel like he's seen her somewhere before...

"Hah! Kadath Pakrull!" another trooper exclaims, "So that's who we ran into? Too bad your lightsaber skills have worsened."

Grelon suddenly remembers! Kadath was the Trandoshan who had been in Uquano's hologram messages! He's filled with questions and surprise, but he has more important problems at the moment. The transport leaves the plain, heading for an unknown destination...

EI'ONIA GRASSLANDS-SECONDS AFTER THE FIGHT...

The four rebels pass by the same place Grelon and Kadath had fought.

Fruen observes, "Perhaps some other rebels made it to the surface, and they fought this patrol."

"But what happened to 'em?" Cerris questions.

"I sense someone from our ship, before it was destroyed..." Strenis reports as he closes his eyes, "East. Our fellow rebel has been... Capturing or something, and he's headed east!"

After going over the next hill, they spot the transport.

"We can catch up with them. Let's go in the same direction they're headed for." Teko says.

And so, they continue, desperate to find the cell...

THE GRIEVOUS

Sauloch gasps awake, and she soon wishes she had stayed unconscious. She's tied to a hover-cart, usually used on the star destroyer to transport the wounded or prisoners. There's four troopers, two in front and two in the back. It's a bad situation, but Sauloch hatches a plan.

She waits until she's been taken to what is apparently her cell, and breaks out of the restraints in the short moment they're not activated. This catches the Stormtroopers off guard, and they do their best to hold down their prisoner. The Mon Cal crunches the wrist of one guard and snatches his blaster! One of the others shoots at her, with his blaster set to stun. This is a terrible mistake on the trooper's part, one which Sauloch uses. She shoves the reeling Stormtrooper into the stun blast, and then quickly uses his blaster on the three others in the small cell room.

With that fight over, Sauloch runs out into the grey corridors, hoping to make the most of her undetected absence before the rest of the Imperials onboard figure out what happened.

Through the back halls, Sauloch sets in motion a crazy, desperate, over the top plan to destroy the star destroyer. She heads to a computer terminal in a small nook, away from the eyes of the swarming, still unaware Imperials. On it, she remotely sets off an alarm in life support control. To make matters worse in the minds of the troops onboard, Sauloch types in speech into the ship's intercom system, "Warning, unauhorized activity in life support control. Bridge, engines, and other critical systems in danger."

With the Imperials fooled, they rush away from those areas, and to the life support control room, where they will find no one messing with the controls.

The Mon Cal silently heads to her real target, the bridge. "I hope this works." she says to herself as an elevator takes her to the bridge of the immense star destroyer...

TO BE CONTINUED...

 _So this is where the initial drop of chapters ends! I'll update this story, and, for now at least, this will be the only story I write. That's not to say this will be my last story or other Star Wars stories or Pokemon stories won't be written by me, but for now, my attention to stories is on this only. Who knows? Maybe I'll think of a little story like Meowth's Connection, and put out a few smaller stories. But for now, all my efforts story-wise on on this._

-Bandanacat


	6. Chapter 3

_Hi! This is my first chapter after the initial drop of story for SWPS (Star Wars Phantom Squad)! Enjoy!_

CHAPTER 3

IMPERIAL BASE, KAOST

Grelon and his surprise ally, Kadath sat silent facing each other. It was a really strange situation, crash landing, meeting your brother's "co-worker" and getting captured, all on the same day? Fortunately, being in the Star Wars world, Grelon was used to ridiculously drastic and fast-hitting changes.

They heard a clunk, and the transport came to a halt. They had arrived in a small Imperial base, nestled in the mountains, but still visible from the civilian settlement that sat across from the installation a few klicks away. It was place swarming with Imperials, there were dozens of troopers and ground crew scurrying around the spacious landing zone, as well as a few officers walking around usually in pairs, discussing whatever it was they used the base to work on.

"I gotta bad feeling about this." Grelon said.

"Quiet." A trooper said while he led the two prisoners out of the speeder transport, blaster trained on them.

They walked across the landing area, and go in an elevator. It seemed the base was bigger than it appeared from the surface, a maze of tunnels ran a criss-cross pattern through a large area.

At last, the endless trudging through the subterranean halls ended. They arrived in a low-ceilinged but wide room with a large window, apparently the main command room.

"On your knees." The trooper grunted.

With hands on their heads Grelon and Kadath did so.

A man, wearing a uniform mostly of grey-olive with a layer of white on his shoulders, turned to meet his visitors. His face had a small coat of facial hair, and more importantly, his uniform had a fraactured crystal design on it, the symbol of the Tarkin Initiative. His eyes looked subtly cruel as he glanced at the Rodian and Trandoshan that had been presented to him. He spoke, "And who do we have here?"

The commander of the patrol that captured the two rebels answered, "This one's a pilot, most likely from the rebel ship we destroyed. He's not much, but this one..." The Stormtrooper pointed at Kadath, nodding, "She's a Trandoshan, Kadath Pakrull. I've heard of her, she was a-"

"Jedi!" the officer interrupted, "You catch a Jedi and think you can come prancing in here with a dangerous criminal? We're lucky she hasn't Force-whatevered us and desstroyed the entire base! Take an extra squad and put them in the jail block."

His pride shriveled, the trooper takes the rebels further back into the installation to the prison block. There, the two are deposited in separate cells...

FOOTHILLS OF EI'ONIA, KAOST

"There's a base." Teko reports as she points to the large grey-colored structure.

"So it is," Cerris agrees, "So what? You plan to break in there and free whoever bug-head said was in the transport, which could've gone somewhere else?"

"You think it'd have gone somewhere else?" Fruen questions with a annoyed glance.

"Well... no." admits Cerris.

"They're there, I sense them." Strenis says with closed eyes, "I sense... something else. It's coming, closer..."

Suddenly, laser blasts land around the four. A Lambda-class shuttle and two TIE fighters appear from behind them! The brown soil around them flies around the rebels as Cerris rattles off some shots at the TIEs. However, there's no escape, there's no cover in the open hills. the TIEs swirl around as the shuttle lands. A troop of Imperials run to meet the four trapped rebels. They don't look like regular troopers, and also show their uniqueness by expertly shooting their opponents' weapons. Disarmed, the rebels watch an officer step out of the shuttle. He claps, "Congratulations, rebels. You're captured. And thank you, agent Fruen, for handing them over to us."

The others stare open-jawed at the now traitorous Fruen as he raises his hands and cracks a smile, "It's a lost cause, guys. The destroyer, that was set up by me. If only you'd join the Empire. You'd go a long way into improving these guys (the unusual troopers)."

Cerris punches the smug traitor, but he's put down by the strange Stormtroopers. "Uh uh uh!" Fruen taunts, "You know I have little reason to keep you alive right now. But... A Quarren, especially one like you, yes... You'll go a long way into helping the project."

The crowd loads into the shuttle, and fly to the still far-away base...

BRIDGE OF THE _GRIEVOUS_

A hiss, and the door to the bridge opens. It's empty, just like Sauloch wants, "Well, it worked. I just hope this thing can handle one pilot..."

She quickly takes a terminal's controls and sets all access to the bridge on lockdown. Then, the Mon Cal does the unthinkable.

The star destroyer changes direction.

Back in the level just below the bridge, the captain hears the vessel creak as it quickly aims downward.

"We've found no-one at life support, sir."

"Of course not!" Jerrul (the captain) barks, "Whoever set off the alarm just put the elevators to the bridge offline! Retake that area! We're being piloted by a madman!"

Back on the bridge, that "madman!" was actually female, and she was plotting a course to destroy the destroyer!

"Navicomputer set... Engines... Nonresponsive? Urgh... I need an override."

KAOST INSTALLATION, PRISON BLOCK

Again, Grelon and Kadath were staring silently at each other, though this time, they were further apart. The cells were probably monitored, so talking about an escape plan would easily be overheard. Grelon was trying to think of a way out, much less make contact with the rebel cell his mission had started as. But somehow, his thoughts were being distracted from escape plans, it felt like someone was probing into his mind.

It felt strange, no doubt. But... It felt friendly. Not some weird new interrogation device from the Empire.

 _"Urgh... What's going on? Who's inside my head?"_ Grelon thought.

He looked over to Kadath's cell, and she seemed to be the one probing his mind.

 _"Can you hear me?"_ She asked mentally.

 _"Yeah."_

 _"Good. Looks like you have promise. Now, I know this is a bad situation, but don't worry. The rest of the cell's coming for us. That's what the numbers I spoke earlier were for."_

 _"Really?"_

 _"Yeah. They should be here right about... now."_

KAOST INSTALLATION LANDING ZONE

Repeated bursts of explosions went off by the elevator, signalling the rebel cell's unexpected arrival.

"Well darn!" Vastroni said as he was being led by two Stormtroopers as a prisoner, "Looks like I won't be pent up in here after all!"

"Wait with the prisoner." one of the troopers commanded the other.

While the trooper ran off to battle the suddenly appearing crowd of rebel attackers and was immediately shot, Vastroni glanced at the remaining guard and quickly knocked him out. Deactivating his handcuffs and taking the fallen trooper's blaster, the Gran ran to help the rebels.

Meanwhile, the other three rebels, Strenis, Teko, and Cerris were also being escorted to the prison block, but they were caught up in the sudden fight. Using the chaos to their advantage, they took out the troopers around them and took their weapons. Cerris landed a knockout blow to Fruen, and started firing a blaster.

Grelon and Kadath watched the elevator car crash down at the bottom level, and saw a team of rebels enter the block. They freed their two targets and any other friendlies in the block.

"C'mon! We don't have much time before they get their forces together!" shouted one jailbreaker.

The Rodian and Trandoshan quickly made for the elevator shaft, but Kadath stopped to get her mask and cloak back.

THE BRIDGE OF THE _GRIEVOUS_

Sauloch couldn't get an override on the engines, the crew had locked it on the lower levels.

"Let's see... How about this?"

She removed the gravitational stability levels on the destroyer, and it begins to plummet. The star destroyer is falling lengthwise, not on a nose dive. This means the bridge won't be annihilated when it crashes, and also that Sauloch will be safe.

KAOST INSTALLATION LANDING ZONE

Back on the ground, the rebels from the original mission to meet the cell reunited, Cerris Grelon, Strenis, Teko, and Vastroni. An AT-ST stomped through the metal floored base to stop the attack. It failed however, most of the assailants fired on it, and it exploded, crushing a few Stormtroopers gathered around it.

But the odds were soon stacked against the rebels. About twenty of the strange troopers jumped out to fight back the incusion! With surprising ingenuity and agility, they took out a number of attackers and surrounded the remaining ones.

Soon, after the frenzied firefight, the Tarkin Initiative officer came out to survey the last of the daring rebels.

"Hm... So sad you thought you could defeat us. This is the Empire evolved! And you will be among the first witnesses of it's power."

But before he gives the order to execute the rebels, a large shadow falls over the landing zone. It's a star destroyer!

In a chaotic few seconds, everyone sprints into spaceships, speeders and anything they can find to escape the huge craft. Fortunately, all the rebels make it out.

The Tarkin Initiative officer looks at Grelon, and the Rodian stares back. The officer has anger in his eyes, practically screaming silently through his glare. He retreats into a shuttle and makes a quick departure from the now flaming landing pad.

A few minutes later, most of the Imperials remaining (many of them had run from the scene in speeders of spaceships) were rounded up. Without their threat, some of the rebels looked through the crumbled wreck to see who or what caused the crash.

Cerris and a few others look through the bridge, and find Sauloch! She was breathing heavily in a corner of the room, the impact had been furious. Fortunately, she's alright enough to stand. Cerris puts out his hand, though Mon Calamari and Quarren have had rough relations, their allegiance nullifies their grudge between peoples.

Shaking, Sauloch puts fin to hand and gets up, "Thanks."

"No. Thank you." Cerris replies, finally smiling, "That was crazy brave."

Soon, the rest of the rebels come into the bridge. Grelon asks his new ally, Kadath, "So, why did you want us all here?"

"Because. I sent you the signal to come find us. We want to join with the alliance and bring down the Empire. It's time."

She speaks into a comlink, and a trio of spacecraft appear from around the mountains! Two of them are rather small, but the third is impressively large. The large cruiser nears the bridge where the group is gathered, and they board.

"Uh, are you the leader?" Vastroni asks Kadath.

"No. I rank high, but I'm not in charge why?"

"Then why did you send a signal?"

"Well, I've been in this cell for a while, thought the leader was good. But recently... I realize he's too obsessed with the cell being isolated. I called for you, but I don't know how the leader will take it."

With everyone aboard, the three cruisers head to space, and jump to lightspeed.

EMPEROR PALPATINE'S OFFICE, CORUSCANT

Palpatine is sitting in his chair, going about his duties as emperor. He has sent out a visiting ambassador to answer an urgent hologram message.

It is the Tarkin Initiative officer, "This is Director Draken. There has been a rebel attack on the Kaost installation. I fled with my troopers, but... We left behind a lot of resources. This wasn't just an ordinary hit-and-run attack, one of them had a lightsaber."

"I see, director." Palpatine croaks in his menacing voice, "Retreat to the Mon'draka base. I'll send a team to investigate this..."

Draken's hologram fades, and a new one appears.

"Commander Versio."

"Yes sir?"

"Go to Kaost. Investigate the attack, and resecure any resources from the base that are salvageable. Then, pursue the targets once we find where they are."

"Yes sir."

Palpatine turns off the hologram for good, and turns to face the Coruscant skyline, leaving this story...

TO BE CONTINUED...

 _Inferno Squad's involved now! I hope you're excited! The next chapter's gonna get crazier too. Watch for the next part of the story!_

-Bandanacat


	7. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

THE _CERAXEN, IN SPACE, EXACT SYSTEM UNKNOWN_

Grelon wandered with Kadath and Strenis through the misty blue halls of the cruiser. He had asked to see the leader his Trandoshan friend talked about, and he was being shown.

"He's, uh, been kind of crazy recently," Kadath warned, "When I signed on, he was alright. But now, I'm seeing he's a little crazy. That's why I called for you guys. This cell could do a lot for the alliance. I mean, look at this cruiser. We need better leadership to put our resources to good use."

They approached a larger than normal door, and they went through. Inside was a larger room, filled with the only soft furnishings onboard. Also there, was an older Rodian. He looked tired, half-crazed, but driven. He also looked like Uquano.

"Is that..." Grelon began.

Strenis suddenly pushed away Grelon and Kadath with the Force and locked the doors to the room.

"Must be another one of Uquano's old buddies." Kadath sighed.

"What's that?" Grelon asked as he tried to open the door.

"Oh, he's had more than a few people showing up with some score to settle. It's another reason I called you. They'll probably work it out, let's try and sort out communications with the alliance..."

Inside the room, Strenis glared at his old friend, "Uquano."

The snouted Rodian happened to have his more sane side dominating himself, and replied, "Strenis."

The old Gand walked towards Uquano, "So this is where you've ended up? Some half-mad warlord of some backwater system?"

"Yes." Uquano nodded, "It's not much, sure, but I'm fine Kadath made the call for the rebels to come."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. We need to unite if we're going to fight the Empire. So, when does the rest of the fleet arrive so we can attack Coruscant?"

"Attack Coruscant?" gasped Strenis, "Uquano, you need help."

"No, you do! All of you!" the angered Rodian suddenly shouted, "I saw the ruin coming."

Uquano began panting and breaking off after every sentence, "I was warned. I tried to stop it, but it all happened anyway. I can hope to repair things, yes, but I need more forces. If it takes an attack directly on Coruscant, so be it. I've seen more of the future than you could ever try to see. I'm trying to get everyone to stand against this future."

Strenis shook his head, "You may have seen something, my former apprentice. But you can't escape the future. You must bear it, and take it head on."

Uquano chuckled, "Apprentice. No one's called me that in a while."

IN THE COMMUNICATIONS ROOM...

"Got anything to Yavin?" asked Grelon as he entered the _Ceraxen's_ comms room.

"Yeah, we told them what happened, they're impressed." Sauloch answered, clutching her shoulder.

Grelon noticed his friend was hurting from the impact from the star destroyer, "You're hurt. Why not get someone to bandage it up?"

"I won't let it bother me. I want to help."

Grelon nodded in understanding.

The young Rodian was truing to keep busy, meeting a Jedi survivor and being near someone who might be your brother is quite a strange position.

Cerris, who was in the room, gave Grelon an update, "Oh, uh... Grelon is it? Home One left Yavin. Their fleet launched. They're going to a general meet-up point to gather their forces. We should try and make for the point."

Grelon nodded again, "Yeah... Sounds good."

Kadath was looking over computer readouts, and noticed something that worried her, "Uh, guys... Better check this out."

The others gathered around a console, and Kadath put a reptilian finger to the approaching ships, "We've got company."

"Those don't look like Imperial ships," Sauloch pointed out, "The Empire probably sent bounty hunters after us. With all the rearrangements they're making since te Death Star blew up, their forces must be spread out at the moment."

"Great! We have bounty hunters? Who knows what they'll do to us! I'd rather have a brigade of Stormtroopers to deal with than a decent bounty hunter," Cerris griped.

"Well, complaining's not going to make them go away. Get your blaster's ready if they board, and get the turbolasers to try and stop them."

"Too late!" Sauloch said grimly, "They took out laser control and our engines. They're docking now."

There were three hunters after the _Ceraxen_. Boba Fett, the Mandalorian clone, Dengar, the turbaned Corellian, and Jytho Reth, sporting a Mandalorian helmet, though he wasn't Mandalorian himself, he was known to have an... ustable, wild nature.

They all met in a hallway just inside the hangar, and they tried to work out the rules of the hunt.

"Fancy meetin' you here." Dengar chuckled at Fett.

"Uh huh." said Boba, "I just want my money for this job, so you stay out of my way, I'll stay out of yours."

"Agreed!" Dengar accepted.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm going for them!" Jytho called.

The rebels onboard were running to stop the bounty hunters, but most of them fell to Dengar's hidden bombs he had planted. Jytho also employed smoke grenades, and picked off the defenders.

Grelon ran into the fight. Blaster ready, he charged into another bigger room, to meet Fett! His blaster was fried by the Mandalorian, and Grelon had to resort to hand-to-hand combat to take down the hunter. He swung at Fett, and he calmly dodged the punch. Again and again, Grelon kicked and jabbed, but Fett kept dodging and successfully landing blows of his own. Finally, tired of toying with the persistent rebel, Boba kicked his Rodian, and pinned him down!

"Time's up. Now, you want a spot in the cargo hold, or should I just end you now?"

Grunting, Grelon made no real response, but wriggled free of the Mandalorian's foot, and slipped up Fett.

With a thud, he fell to the ground. But Fett wasn't done yet, he got up and faced a group of rebels that also had arrived to fight the bounty hunter.

Boba shook his head, "You must really want to die..."

MEANWHILE...

In another section of the cruiser turned firefight, Kadath ran into Dengar! Kadath ignited her lightsaber, since Dengar wasn't so easily beaten by blasters.

"Jedi!" Dengar lit up, "You want some?"

Kadath tensed up, ready to battle. The turbaned bounty hunter spewed out a hail of lasers from his DLT-19, most of which were blocked by Kadath's expert deflection skills. They continued shooting and blocking, until Dengar threw aside his gun, and drew a lightsaber resistant blade!

"This cost me a pretty penny. Let's put it to work." Dengar sneered.

To Kadath's surprise, her opponent was skilled enough to hold his own, and even gain the upper hand. They swung and sliced furiously through the halls, until they came into a room where Grelon and Fett were brawling.

In a stunning move, the masked Trandoshan snatched Dengar's blade, looked over to Grelon, who was in a chokehold from his Mandalorian enemy, and tossed the blade towards him! Fett ducked out of the way, "Oh! Thanks for giving me a challenge for once!"

Grelon managed to get free when Fett ducked, and he soon was back fighting, "You're in for it now!"

"I'm sure I am."

In the engine room, Cerris and Teko were having their own skirmish with Jytho Reth. The man with the cobbled together armor was disarmed at the moment, and was being held at gunpoint by the two rebels. Not to be defeated, Reth grabbed a nearby tank plating, and used in as a shield! With surprising agility, he dodged their shots, and soon found another blaster to use. He unceremoniously threw the plating at his enemies, "Hold still." Teko and Cerris were knocked over, and vulnerable. Before they could get back up, Jytho walked towards them, blaster aimed at them, "You must be tired of living. Let me fix that."

But before he pulled the trigger on either of them, Teko forcefully kicked Reth's nearby leg, knocking him down! With a clunk on his head, Jytho was briefly unconscious.

"Alright, we'd better regroup." Teko said.

"Yeah..." panted Cerris, "Good idea."

In a few minutes, the bounty hunters were regrouped too. In engine control, Dengar and Boba had sealed off the room to make a more coordinated attack. However, Reth was walking towards the hangar, and his ship.

"Ey, Reth! Where're you going?" Dengar asked as the rebels started pounding through the door.

"Off this tub," the half-crazed hunter replied, "This job's not worth it. Left some bombs on their engine systems. That should fetch me at least a few credits."

"For once, Reth's right." Fett said, "Let's get outta here. The job's not worth it."

"Well, I do love me a good dust-up, but I'm done here too." Dengar agreed.

As they left, the rebels burst through to the engine room as the hunters were leaving! Before they could catch the retreating attackers, Fett shot a rocket barrage at Reth's bombs, "I'm done with this."

The bombs went off, crippling the cruiser and giving the bounty hunters time to escape. Grelon ran out to the hangar to try and catch the fleeing enemies, but they had made it out.

LATER...

"So, what's our next move?" Sauloch asked Uquano.

"Well... We should be able to make another move, so we're going to need some time to repair our cruiser."

Grelon and some others were soon working on the engines, but the job was difficult. The engine room was still on fire, and unstable too. The engineers tried to reclaim a terminal, but a chunk of machinery loosened and fell on them! In a moment of gut reaction, Grelon used the Force to hover the machinery to it's proper place, and secure it there. When the others stood in awe, the Force-sensitive Rodian ran away.

Kadath was going over some repair work, when her newfound friend signaled for her to talk with him.

"I... Just used the Force."

"I know." Kadath responded, "I knew you were Force-sensitive already. That's the reason you could communicate with me in the prison."

"Alright... But, look. The Rodian in that room, is he..."

"Yes, he's your brother."

Grelon sat down, the volley of weird happenings was a little overwhelming, "Alright. Then why Strenis push us out?"

"They're both Jedi. Had something to talk out. Strenis... He went his way, I went mine. He's a little surprised at what happened too."

"Yeah. I... Need a minute to take this in..."

Grelon walked aimlessly through the halls, looking for somewhere to think. He eventually found a large room, the room Uquano was in when Strenis pushed him out. He looked around with amazement at all the artifacts his neurotic brother had collected. Grelon then noticed, on a weathered table, his brother's lightsaber.

It was worn from years of use, but still impressive. It's hilt was silver, with small rings in one part, and it also had a gripping handle. Grelon was curious to finally see his brother's lightsaber, so he reached out to touch it. His alien suction-cupped hand met the metal of the saber, and the room on the cruiser left him.

Reality turned to chaos. It started with Grelon's surroundings, the cruiser's room morphed into a more stately room, Chancellor Palpatine's office. Grelon saw three men by the broken window. One of them cut off the hand of another man there, and the third person threw him out the window with Force-lightning. Grelon's eyes widened, and stepped back in dismay.

Another place, still at night, appeared. A man who had been seen at the office was now marching on some temple with a thousand troopers following.

Next, a series of short visions of other planets appeared. In them, what seemed like hundreds of Jedi were gunned down coldly by stiff, emotionless puppets, clone troopers.

A fiery lava planet came next. There, a man was in a condition similar to one growing in Grelon. The man was burning, decapitated, and screaming in rage at the figure of a departing person.

Grelon tried to look away, cover his eyes, but it was too overwhelming.

He saw the second Death Star explode, Jakku, the attack on Starkiller base, the ramming of the Supremacy, and so much more.

The final vision, the Millennium Falcon going into hyperspace after Crait, the hopelessness, the chaos, the overload of information finally broke Grelon's vision.

He fell back on the floor, and the world finally went black.

TO BE CONTINUED...

 _That was insane huh? I hope you're liking the story! Stay tuned for the next chapter!_

-Bandanacat


	8. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Grelon gasped into consciousness. He was on a bench in a quiet room of the cruiser. The Rodian got off and searched for Uquano, who was overseeing the repairs to the ship.

"Uquano?" Grelon asked.

"Yes? Who're you?"

"Your... brother. I... Touched your lightsaber, and I had this crazy vision, and-"

"Yeah, I know. We put you on the bench to recover."

"Oh. Uh... How long was I out?"

"Two days. We've made some repairs to the _Ceraxen._ Mostly superficial damage, thankfully."

While they were talking, a Quarren (Cerris) came up from behind them from a corridor, "Uh... Mr. Stah?"

Uquano turned and hunched a nonexistent eyebrow.

"What is it Cerris?" Grelon questioned curiously.

"We have a Star Destroyer, and a light cruiser on approach."

Uquano nodded and turned to Grelon again, "So, I know we just met each other in person and we don't really acknowledge it... yeah... But we can talk a little more once we see what's up."

Grelon nodded and quickly went with his older brother to see what was going on.

They ran out to a window near the exterior of the cruiser, and sure enough, they were there. The smaller cruiser, the _Corvus_ , announced to the rebels, "Attention rebels, this is Inferno Squad. You are charged with destruction of the Kaost Installation. And for that... you die."

Uquano turned to Kadath and some other pilots, "Get the X-wings out. We'll need them to cover us while we repair the hyperdrive. It'll take about ten minutes, so keep the TIEs off of us, and maybe take out their star destroyer if you can."

Kadath nodded and left with Grelon, who volunteered to fly, and the other pilots.

Strenis was there too, he said to his old padawan, "You seem more sane now. What happened?"

"I sense promise in Grelon." Uquano replied, "I could train him, be his mentor. I miss Kadath when she was still learning."

"Well, who knows? Maybe this'll be her chance to be the "mentor." too."

"Uh... Guys? Less chatting, more commanding?" Cerris grumped at his older rebel allies.

IN SPACE

Grelon was glad to be back at the controls of an X-wing. He was excited at it's special paint job too. It was painted a cool green, different from the blue and red of the Alliance starfighters. but he didn't have the time to admire his ship, the squad leader, Kadath, was already establishing comms, and the TIEs were launching.

"This is Phantom Leader, standing by." Kadath announced in her somewhat gravelly Trandoshan voice.

"This is Phantom Two, standing by." Vastroni, who also volunteered, said.

Phantom Three checked in too, as did Grelon, who was flying as Phantom Four.

Soon, after another four pilots checked in, Kadath gave a quick set of commands, "We need to keep the Imperials off our cruiser, especially the part that they're fixing. Phantoms Five through Eight, take out any serious threats to the _Ceraxen_. Phantoms Two to Four, keep the TIEs away."

Soon, they were in range, and a firefight broke out in space! Rebel and Imperial pilots zoomed around, blasting and chasing whatever they could. The bombing starfighters were covered by their teammates, and scored a run against the star destroyer's turbolasers!

"Took out most of the turbolasers." Phantom Seven reported, "But they're bringing a bigger battery out! We need to make another run!"

Grelon thought for a minute, a little hard to do in a dogfight, and made a suggestion, "No, focus all fire on the bridge!"

"What're you talking about, Phantom Four?" Phantom Leader asked after she blew a TIE fighter into the destroyer's hull.

"The destroyer's directing it's energy to the weapon, and away from the deflector generators!"

"How can you tell?" Phantom Two questioned between volleys of lasers.

"I've seen blueprints on these destroyers, that's what they can do."

"Alright then," Kadath said, "We'll need to make two runs to get them. Make for the deflector shield generators, and watch out for those TIEs!"

They made for the bridge. Shooting down the generator, Grelon noticed that the TIEs weren't focusing on them as much. He soon found out why, a trio of TIEs were streaking towards him! The starfighters had strange red markings on them, Inferno Squad had been tasked with defeating the Phantoms!

Vastroni noticed this, "Phantom Leader! We have special forces on our tail!"

"I know, you guys keep going, I'll keep 'em off."

Kadath did a loop-de-loop and came behind Inferno Squad. They in turn, tried to dodge their attacker.

Using Kadath's stalling to their advantage, the Phantoms fired their missiles at the deflector generators, and both quickly exploded!

Onboard the star destroyer, the Tarkin Initiative man stood on deck, yelling at the crew "We lost our deflectors! Focus defenses on the bridge!"

Grelon turned away to catch the special forces TIEs, to Kadath's slight frustration, "Phantom Four! What're you doing?"

"Keeping you covered, everyone goes home!" Grelon shouted excitedly over the comms.

Though not on the rebels' feed, Inferno Leader, Iden Versio, detected the ambitious pilot's approach, "Not today."

The Imperial's ship whirled around to fire on Grelon, but the force-sensitive pilot managed to dodge the shots. He quickly gained the upper hand, and clipped all three of the TIEs!

Though they weren't destroyed, Inferno Squad was forced to land back on their ship.

Kadath signaled for the other Phantoms, except Phantom Four to focus on the remaining TIEs shooting at the _Ceraxen_ , "Phantom Four, you saved me. You have final shot at the destroyer!"

Grelon nodded, "Roger."

On the bridge, the Tarkin Initiative officer noticed Grelon's X-wing coming. Alarmed, he screamed at the gunners, "They're aiming for us! Destroy him!"

Grelon was giddy with tension, the lasers barely missed him, he came into range... And just before he destroyed the bridge, he noticed the officer.

"You're not getting those troopers on the front lines today!" Grelon shouted.

With a burst of missiles, the star destroyer's bridge was destroyed and unoperable. The now powerless shell drifted off course to an asteroid, and was quickly torn apart! The rebels were safe, and they were patched up enough to reach the fleet!

With excitement, Uquano called the remaining Phantoms back, "Good job, Phantom Squad! Get back in here, we're heading for the fleet!"

THE NEXT DAY...

The _Ceraxen_ and the smaller craft came out of hyperspace with the main rebel fleet. Things were looking up, with the Death Star gone, and lots of resources from the Kaost rebel cell, the rebellion was stocked with plenty of gear for their fight against the Empire!

Mon Mothma heard of the rebel unit's accomplishments, and called them to _Home One_ , the rebel flagship.

Soon, the eight of them, Grelon, Kadath, Teko, Uquano, Sauloch, Cerris, Vastroni, and Strenis, were with Admiral Ackbar, Mon Mothma, Jan Dodonna, and Princess Leia.

"Brave rebels," Mothma began, "You have braved many challenges, and have succeeded in your mission. We have plenty of supplies thanks to you and the cell. And for your outstanding accomplishment, we're organizing you into our own special forces unit, Phantom Squad, named after the Kaost cell's fighter squadron. Do you accept this position?"

They all replied with different words, but they all agreed on becoming Phantom Squad.

"Congratulations!" Ackbar said, "We hope you will be effective in bringing the Empire down, then, we won't have to fight so long! Here is your first mission..."

And soon, The _Ceraxen_ was off! Phantom Squad was heading out to fight the Empire, and fight for the Rebellion, as the story reaches...

THE END

 _Hi! I finished the story. The ending was probably really forced, but I'm just kinda done with Fanfiction for now. If I get a really cool idea, I might come back and write it down, but for now, I'm going dormant._

-Bandanacat


End file.
